How Does Coffee Affect Your Body?

There are few things better than a good cup of coffee in the morning, and this caffeine boost is necessary for some of us to start our day and become more mentally alert. But apart from giving you the buzz needed to push through the morning, have you ever thought about what coffee really does to your body?

Coffee is a hot beverage made from roasted coffee beans and it contains caffeine, which stimulates the nervous system, heart, and muscles. After drinking coffee, the caffeine enters your bloodstream fairly quickly (according to Self, it can take as few as 10 minutes before you feel the effects), and this goes to your brain where it works as a stimulant. One of the best things about coffee is that it can help keep you alert, but it also has the ability to impact your mood by increasing the levels of feel-good chemical dopamine in our brains, Self reports.

In addition to the nervous system, caffeine can also affect the stomach and increase the amount of acid, which for some people could cause heartburn and an upset stomach. And the reason for the increased urination is because caffeine is not stored in our bodies, but rather processed by our livers and expelled through urine.

There are many perceived health benefits of coffee, in addition to it being a stimulant, and according to Men’s Journal, these include helping your muscles recover faster after a workout, helping to reduce liver damage caused by drinking too much, and it can also potentially reduce the risk of liver cancer by 15 percent, for every cup consumed per day.

Caffeine can also help to burn fat because your metabolism has been awoken, and a study published in Nutrition and Metabolism, found that those who drank caffeine prior to a workout where more likely to go into fat-burning mode. And according to HealthLine, studies have found that those who drink coffee on a regular basis are less at risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's, as well as a reduced risk of suicide by 45 percent.

Of course, there are downsides to drinking too much coffee, and because it stays in our system for several hours it could result in insomnia, and could also negatively impact the brain chemistry causing nervousness and anxiety. Those who regularly drink multiple cups of coffee a day could also experience withdrawal symptoms, like headaches and irritability, when they cut back.

So, how much is a safe amount of caffeine? HealthLine notes that according to Mayo Clinic, most healthy adults can consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day.